Reports Social Health of Nevada 2006 Delinquency and Crime in Nevada Stephanie Kent Deborah K. Shaffer University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/social_health_nevada_reports Part of the Community-Based Research Commons, and the Law Commons Repository Citation Kent, S., Shaffer, D. K. (2006). Delinquency and Crime in Nevada. In Dmitri N. Shalin, The Social Health of Nevada: Leading Indicators and Quality of Life in the Silver State 1-25. Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/social_health_nevada_reports/8 This Report is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Report in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Report has been accepted for inclusion in Reports by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Delinquency and Crime in Nevada* Introduction The United States has always had significantly higher crime rates than other developed nations, and its juvenile crime rates repeat this pattern. Scholars have offered various explanations for this discrepancy, ranging from structural reasons such as a high level of income inequality in the U.S. to the cultural values that encourage Americans to be individualistic, seek autonomy, and engage in violent conduct.